Sett Mera (1 results)

First edition, one of 250 copies only. Born into Mumbai's Parsee community, Sett matriculated at Downing College, Cambridge, in 1910, and began this project in 1912. When British publishers offered to produce only an attenuated version of his sensuous illustrations, his father funded private publication through the Cambridge bookstore Galloway & Porter. Sett's decadent interpretation raised eyebrows among Western audiences. In his preface, Sett attacks Western-centric comparisons between his style and that of Aubrey Beardsley. After the Second World War, the work was reissued in Mumbai. Potter 104. Large octavo. Illustrated title page, 30 plates (15 with captioned tissue guards). Original black cloth, spine and front cover lettered and decorated in gilt, top edge gilt, others untrimmed. Light wear to cloth, more so at one point along top edge of front board, small tidemarks on pastedowns: very good.